The Necessity of Surrender

I began this year with the desire to learn more what it means to surrender everything to Christ. The verse I chose to focus on is Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And so I wonder, what does it mean to be crucified with Christ? What does a surrendered life look like?

This pursuit of surrender came after a year focused on seeking. The more I sought after Christ, the more I was in his presence, the more I realized I was standing on holy ground. Like Isaiah, my heart cried, “Woe is me!” I grew to understand how Paul’s perspective on himself changed the longer he knew Christ, from being the “least of disciples” to the “worst of all sinners.” The more I know Christ, the more I know myself and I realize just how sinful I really am. As Tim Keller is known to have said, “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

And so it is seeking that has brought me to surrender.

In my study so far, I’ve discovered this: surrender is essential in the Christian life. It’s not an optional add-on. It’s not a role designated to a certain few. Rather, surrender defines the Christian life. Jesus said in Luke 9:23-24 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Just a few verses before this, Jesus explained to the disciples that self-denial and surrender would be part of his own story. Indeed, it’s why he came. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (vs.22). Francis Schaeffer, in his book True Spirituality, explained that this verse reflects the very order of things that Jesus endured and it is the same order that we follow as well. “The order-rejected, slain, raised-is also the order of the Christian life of true spirituality; there is no other.” (p. 22). “As Christ’s rejection and death are the first steps in the order of redemption, so our rejection and death to things and self are the first steps in the order of true and growing spirituality.” (p.23).

Immediately as I pray through and meditate on what this means, I find opportunities for surrender, opportunities to crucify things in my life that are important to me. And it hurts. It’s not easy. My heart flinches and I want to run. I want to take it all back. Like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, I want to hold back a few things for myself.

The heart is willing but the flesh is weak.

But I know surrender is necessary. For I know that more than anything in my life, I need to know and be known by Christ. I don’t want there to be things that I hold on to or keep back from him. I don’t want there to be areas of my life where I say, ”Leave that be.” It has to be all or nothing.

Ultimately, I want to say with Paul, ”Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Because the truth is, when I surrender, I’m not really losing anything that was mine to begin with and instead, I am gaining everything in Christ.

When it comes to surrender and the steps described in Luke 9-rejected, slain, raised- Schaeffer pierces my heart more with these questions, “How much prayer does this provoke for ourselves and those we love? Is it not true that our thoughts, our prayers for ourselves and those we love, and our conversations are almost entirely aimed at getting rid of the negative at any cost-rather than praying that the negatives might be faced in the proper attitude? How much prayer do we make for our children and those we love that they may indeed be willing to walk, by the grace of God, through the steps of rejection and being slain?” (p. 23)

Indeed, how often do we shirk the idea of carrying a cross or walking into the steps of rejection? How often do we pray for a willingness to surrender? How often do we ask for the Spirit to point out areas in our life that need the work of the refiner’s tools? How often do we pray for a heart that is willing to lay down the things we cling to, idols, sins, and yes-even hopes and dreams?

Whatever parts of me die this year, whatever is surrendered and crucified, is not the end for me. Just as spring always follows winter, resurrection lies on the other side of death. The more of myself I surrender for the sake of gaining Christ, the more I gain from the richness of his love, grace, and mercy. The more of me that is sloughed off, shed, and cut away, the more I become like Christ.

The steps of surrender: rejected, slain, raised. These are steps worth taking, don’t you think?